Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT Strips 3816-3820 (27-31 August 2018)

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dutchrvl:

--- Quote from: derris_kharlan on 27 Aug 2018, 00:17 ---
--- Quote from: sitnspin on 26 Aug 2018, 22:29 ---His "point" was a meaningless platitude. "Everything will just work out, it did for me" is not a point. Marten dismissing her legit concerns by pointing out he fell backwards into a job he had no qualifications for is not helpful. He means well, but everything Claire said was true.

--- End quote ---

Meaningless? I very much disagree. His point is that just because life doesn’t go exactly according to some grand master plan doesn’t mean it’s hopeless and everything will be bad. He uses himself as an example of ending up in a good place that he didn’t plan on. He wasn’t at all trying to say “hey, becoming a librarian is easy” yet that’s what Claire turned it in to. She missed his point entirely AND put him down in the process.

--- End quote ---

I think that Marten's point was indeed what you took from it, but he worded it a bit weirdly. He could've/should've said something like "even if it doesn't go exactly how you expected it to go, that doesn't mean there are no other options/that you failed/that you missed out on the 1 path to happiness/ etc.
Instead, the way he worded it was more like "everything will work out, I promise", which is not great advice, as you'd still need to work hard on finding a diifferent path for yourself.

Cornelius:

--- Quote from: dutchrvl on 27 Aug 2018, 05:03 --- (click to show/hide)
--- Quote from: Cornelius on 27 Aug 2018, 00:38 ---

--- Quote from: chris73 on 26 Aug 2018, 19:19 ---In NZ from roughly the late 80s onwards there was a massive shift away from apprenticeships and trades as options for schoolkids and was replaced by an almost fervent belief that University was the be all and end all and that without a degree (any degree) you'd be doomed to a, at best, mediocre life

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Seems much the same here. Of course, it's compounded by the fact that even some of the most basic jobs insist on qualifications - even if it's just cleaning. On the other hand, we don't have the same kind of fees - so the student loan issue is close to nonexistent. But it does mean that it's getting hard to find good tradesmen. The past decade has seen a stronger stress on trying to direct children back towards the trades. But then, the problem is they succeeded rather too well in convincing the current generation of parents that that was a second rate choice.

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Message string above edited for brevity by me

Perhaps you're also from the Netherlands, but that's exactly the issue here as well. About 5 years ago or so, it was again vocalized by the Dutch government as one of their main goals to have 80% (it may have been even higher) of the population have at least a college degree, somehow implying that the college graduation rate is a main measure of a country's success.
And yes, the past decades have really led to both parents and children being convinced that not going to college basically meant wasting your life and tossing any chance of success out the window.

Of course this has inevitably led to a shortage of good people in trades (and way too many people with business degrees) and a resulting slow but steady increase in appreciation for those trades. Unfortunately this doesn't yet mean more people end up in those fields. After all, everybody wants tradespeople (e.g. good plumbers), yet they all want other people to do it. Presumably this won't change until the shortage leads to skyrocketing service fees. After all, there is no better incentive to choose a profession than the prospect of good money!

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Just south of there ;)

It's not just plumbers; it's butchers, carpenters, anything, really. Mind, a lot is being picked up by workers from the East (stereotypically Polish and Romanians), and by migrants of all sorts.

There's also the fact, that there are quite a few people around, that are simply not happy doing the kind of work they have a degree for. Pressure towards higher education is not always a good thing. I mean, yes, democratising higher education is good - anyone who wants, and deserves the opportunity, should be able to take it. The problem is, though, that from leveling the field socio-economically, they've gone to seeing it as a general requirement, almost.

Mind, I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to go and pursue an education, and a degree - and that should be affordable, as it still is, in our little nook of the world. It's just that, valuable as it might be as an experience, it's not for everyone, and it most certainly is not the only way to happiness.

bhtooefr:
Marten did have some connections, though, IIRC - granted, through the person who got fired from the job that he got, but still.

judemorrigan:
This comic made me think about how I've always thought it was a shame that the "Marten starts a music blog" thing never really took off as a plot point.  Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% down with it not having been some sort of a massive success that became his full-time job.  But ... well, I came to terms a long time a ago that it's *ok* to have a job that lets you do the things you're passionate about rather than a job that is itself something you're truly passionate about.  But while he may take his job at the library seriously, I'm not sure I ever got the sense that it was something he really *cared* about.  It just seems like there's more he could do for his own personal (rather than professional) benefit and growth.

pwhodges:
I think Marten's music blog went the way of Jeph's...

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